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VOLUME 16
NEW BERN, N. C. 28560, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1973
NUMBER 36
Yesterday was when Yankee
soldiers decisively defeated
Confedsirate defenders in the
brief Battle of New Bern, and
then grimly learned the possible
potency of germ warfare.
Although it wasn't contrived
by the vanquished, yellow fever
attacked occupying Union
forces. So many ddiriously died
that a National Cemetery had to
be provided hare.
Some, perhaps a majority, of
those beneath the sod, gambled
their lives for relatively small
sums of money and lost. Under
a Federal ruling, rich; Nor
therners could hire those with
little to take their place In the
draft.
This editor’s paternal
grandfather, *who Joined
retreating Rebels as they
, passed through Jones County en
route to Kinston, didn’t have to
wait long to find that General
Sherman’s definition of war was
a gross understatement.
A few hours after he left his
plow in the field, he was blinded
by enemy gunfire, c^tured,
and on his way to a Federal
hospital in Maryland. Later he
wasJtnprispnediwtiUheend of
hostilities.
Yesterday was when there
were fewer light bulbs glowing
in all the stores along Middle
Street than you’ll now find
beaming in a single place of
business. Even so, little
shoplifting occurred. IMeves,
like customers, could hardly see
their way around.
Neon illumination would
come along much later, despite
the fact that back in 1898 an
English chemist had discovered
the remarkable gas. Initially a
few outdoor signs sprouted
here, and eventuwy merchants
invested in tubing for inside use.
Hie stuff is in the air you
breathe, and always has bmn.
Its proportion in the atoms-
phereis 18 parts in a million. Its
usual color is bright scarlet, but
adding a few drops of mercury
produces a brilliant blue. Other
colors depend on tinting of the
glass tubing containing it.
Since the gas is rather ex
pensive, it is fortunate that a
little goes a long way. A quart or
less will fill a tube almost 300
feet in length. Effective in
penetrating fog, neon beacons
can be seen 20 miles by plane
pilots under conditions that blot
out other lights.
Yesterday was when the only
flying saucers that people
tailked about were the ones that
local wives threw when their
hiBbands staggered home from
one of the town’s several
saloons. And no male with a
creased cranium ever had to
swear to skeptics that what he
encountered was for real.
Yesterday was when every
lad got reminded that if he
studied hard and had enough
ambition, he could end up being
President of the United States.
Today such a pitch holds no
appeal for the average
youngster, and parents, weary
of Watergate, can appreciate
this lack of enthusiasm;
Yesterday was when no one
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